Could there be something between Senior Brother and the breathtakingly beautiful Senior Sister Youqin?

In Lan Ling’e’s thatched cottage, Master Li Changshou’s only legitimate junior sister sat cross-legged on a cushion behind a low table, holding a steaming cup of tea while lost in thought.

To her left sat the ice-beauty Youqin Xuanya, who had just arrived. She maintained a formal kneeling posture with closed eyes, quietly waiting for Senior Brother to appear.

To her right, Master Jiujiu was sprawled across the table, letting out gentle snores, looking severely sleep-deprived.

The atmosphere was just a tiny bit awkward.

They had all come looking for her Senior Brother…

Had Senior Brother merely gone herb-gathering in the North Kutuo Continent once, only to catch the attention of two female Qi cultivators who had accompanied him?

If this was happening now, what would it be like at next year’s training conference when Senior Brother went out again? Wouldn’t her cottage become too crowded to seat everyone?!

Lan Ling’e sighed internally, completely unable to understand what exactly made her Senior Brother so attractive. With his cautious and timid personality, how could any woman besides herself be interested in him…

Moreover, the one sitting to her left was the brightest star among their generation of disciples.

Though, thinking about it seriously…

‘Senior Sister Youqin is truly beautiful, even just sitting there she’s so enchanting. If I were Senior Brother, I probably couldn’t resist her charm either.

No, that’s not right, Senior Brother probably just simply likes big…’

Lan Ling’e turned her head to look at the right side, where Master Jiujiu’s sideways sprawl across the table made certain assets more prominent.

Then, Ling’e looked up at the bronze mirror behind the door and couldn’t help but hold her head in her hands.

Surely she still had a chance to develop further in the future;

Probably.

Setting aside the matter of Senior Brother, as the owner of this thatched cottage, Lan Ling’e felt she couldn’t let the atmosphere remain so awkward…

“Senior Sister Youqin,” Lan Ling’e smiled and asked softly, “What brings you to our Small Jade Peak?”

Youqin Xuanya opened her eyes and replied quietly:

“After returning to the mountain last time, I was punished with confined meditation at Breaking Sky Peak and had no chance to properly thank Senior Brother Changshou.

Today I just awakened from meditation and learned my punishment period had ended. With Master’s permission, I came to Small Jade Peak to formally express my gratitude to Senior Brother Changshou.”

Lan Ling’e couldn’t help but tilt her head: “Did my Senior Brother… do something worthy of your thanks?”

“He saved my life,” Youqin Xuanya lightly pressed her lips together and nodded slightly, her gem-like bright eyes flickering with a hint of light, “And he did so twice.”

Lan Ling’e blinked…

That expression on Youqin Xuanya’s face was the same one she often made when thinking about Senior Brother while looking in the bronze mirror!

Master Jiujiu alone had already given her enormous pressure, and now suddenly Youqin Xuanya had descended from the heavens!

Lan Ling’e couldn’t help but hold her head in her hands again, her tender heart alternating between fierce protests and mournful laments, leaving her whole being rather unsettled.

It seemed she would have to use whatever means necessary to secure Senior Brother quickly before things got out of hand…

“Hmm? Little Ya, you’re here too?”

Jiujiu suddenly asked drowsily, rubbing her eyes as she sat up.

Youqin Xuanya respectfully repeated what she had said earlier, rose to greet Jiujiu, and sat back down after receiving Jiujiu’s permission.

Then, Jiujiu looked at Lan Ling’e, covered her mouth to yawn, and asked, “Has the formation in the back opened yet?”

Lan Ling’e quickly replied, “Not yet, Master Jiujiu. Senior Brother seems to be either refining pills or cultivating. I tried calling him with a message talisman but got no response.”

“Alright then, even though we had agreed on a time for pill refining… he probably had some insight.”

Jiujiu looked at Lan Ling’e, then at Youqin Xuanya, as if suddenly remembering something, and said with a smile:

“Since Little Ya is here too, Ling’e, let’s play that game!”

Lan Ling’e asked softly, “Which one does Master mean?”

Jiujiu’s eyes grew brighter, “The one we played with your Senior Brother last month!

Isn’t it supposed to be your Small Jade Peak’s traditional activity?”

“Of course, we can, Master, please wait a moment,” Lan Ling’e’s fingers lightly tapped as she moved the low table in front of them to the doorway, creating a large open space between the three of them.

She took out a clean animal hide from her storage artifact and spread it before them. The hide was painted with a long ‘cloud path’ divided into small squares, with many peaks and marshes drawn along the way.

Lan Ling’e asked, “Would Senior Sister Youqin like to join us?”

Youqin Xuanya hesitated slightly, looking at this ‘map’ with some confusion.

Jiujiu added from the side: “This was made by Little Changshou, it’s quite interesting!”

Hearing this, Youqin Xuanya immediately nodded and said, “If it’s Senior Brother Changshou’s creation, please do let me join.”

“Senior Sister, please look, the rules are written here.”

Following Lan Ling’e’s finger, Youqin Xuanya saw familiar handwriting and read softly:

“Path to Immortality, also known as ‘Simulating Immortal Life’ or ‘Immortal Monopoly’…

Participants place their wooden figurines at the starting point of the immortal path, use dice rolls to advance, and trigger various events upon landing on spaces.

At the start, each person receives three hundred spirit stones, represented by numbers. The first to reach the Long Life endpoint wins, or when participants wish to end the game, victory is determined by spirit stone count.

Note: No immortal sense or spiritual sense may be used to examine the various treasure boxes, nor may any spiritual power be used to control the dice.”

After Youqin Xuanya finished reading, Lan Ling’e had already placed several colorful wooden boxes to the side, filled with various square tokens bearing all sorts of labels.

Then, Lan Ling’e brought out three colored wooden figurines and placed them at the cloud path’s starting point, along with a six-sided die.

Everything was ready.

Youqin Xuanya had never seen anything like this before and was quite bewildered.

Jiujiu laughed, “Play one round with us and you’ll understand! Come on, let’s start! I’ll roll first!”

Lan Ling’e quickly said, “We need to play rock-paper-scissors to decide the rolling order.”

“Fine, fine, you two little ones don’t know anything about respecting elders, if it’s rock-paper-scissors then rock-paper-scissors it is!”

Youqin Xuanya watched this somewhat unrestrained Master Jiujiu and Lan Ling’e earnestly lecturing her master from the side. Though slightly uncomfortable, she still cooperated in playing rock-paper-scissors and determining the dice-rolling order…

She even won at rock-paper-scissors.

Youqin Xuanya went first, rolling a five, and moved her wooden figurine five steps along the cloud path, looking at the label beneath her figurine.

‘You performed excellently while sweeping the mountain gate steps, receiving twenty spirit stones as a reward from the sect elders.’

“Senior Sister, add twenty to your spirit stone count!”

“Oh, alright,” Youqin Xuanya did as told, now roughly understanding the rules.

Beside her, Jiujiu grabbed the die, breathed on it in her palm, and carefully threw it down.

Seeing the die settle on ‘three’, Jiujiu grinned, moving her figurine three spaces forward to land on a square marked with a purple pentagram.

“Quick, bring the purple treasure box, draw a card!”

Lan Ling’e passed over the purple box, and Jiujiu rummaged around inside before pulling out a wooden token.

“Good stuff, good stuff!

Ling’e, your turn! Roll your Senior Sister a Golden Core!”

Youqin Xuanya carefully examined the wooden token, seeing four large characters on its face reading [Me Too], with an explanation on the back:

‘Triggers automatically after the current participant’s action is complete, allowing the holder to forcibly copy any other participant’s gains this round.’

“My turn! Hmph!”

Lan Ling’e rolled a two, landing on a blank square with no reward.

Jiujiu immediately made a disgusted face, pointed her token at Youqin Xuanya, and shouted: “Me too!

What a waste, finally drew this card but only got twenty spirit stones.”

Youqin Xuanya couldn’t help but laugh softly, naturally picking up the die and rolling again, this time triggering a random event, drawing a bamboo token from a blue box.

[Finding True Love]: You have found your lifelong Dao partner and held a wedding feast. Collect 100 spirit stones from each participant as wedding gifts.

Jiujiu and Lan Ling’e immediately began complaining…

Youqin Xuanya softly praised: “May I look at these tokens? Senior Brother Changshou truly has wonderful ideas.”

The two others, whose interest had been piqued, paused the game and showed Youqin Xuanya the bamboo, wooden, bronze, and jade tokens from each box.

The four types each had twelve varieties, corresponding to ‘skills’, ‘positive random events’, ‘negative random events’, and ‘treasures’.

Such as…

[Life Is Hard]: Reflecting on your cultivation journey’s hardships, you lament your difficult path to power, moving others to tears; other players each give you 50 spirit stones in consolation.

[Sudden Insight]: Advance one space.

[Distracted by Trivia]: Due to being absorbed in poetry, song, dance, and leisure, you neglect cultivation and lose the next two dice-rolling opportunities.

[Great Persuasion Card]: You activate the technique ‘Great Persuasion Art’, successfully deceiving your previous target, and gaining 200 spirit stones or any treasure item from this person.

And so on…

“Did Senior Brother Changshou make all of this?”

Youqin Xuanya asked with amazement, while the other two could only repeatedly nod in confirmation.

“Stop looking, Little Ya, let’s continue!”

“Yes, Master, disciple got carried away, this item is truly fascinating.”

“Tsk tsk, watch me! Haha, drawing cards again! Appear, Me Too!”

“Master Jiujiu mustn’t cheat.”

“As if I’d need to cheat against you two juniors?”

Gradually, the thatched cottage filled with laughter, the earlier awkwardness completely gone.

By evening.

Li Changshou, who had just broken through a minor realm after reviewing the first volume of the “Effortless Scripture,” came strolling from the forest.

Having been in his secret chamber all this time, he had now stabilized his energy, ensuring no one could detect any signs of his breakthrough.

From afar, he heard laughter coming from the thatched cottage and his spiritual sense detected Youqin Xuanya’s presence.

This is troublesome… why did she come?

After some thought, Li Changshou silently turned around and walked back to the pill-refining room, the sounds of laughter following him in the wind.

Jiujiu’s laughter was bold, “Haha! Me too! This master has struck it rich!”

Youqin Xuanya’s laughter was very reserved, though it was rare to hear her complain: “Sigh, truly unlucky, this disciple got distracted by trivia again.”

And Lan Ling’e, who had won this round, smiled smugly and said to the two: “Life is hard, time to collect spirit stones.”

Li Changshou couldn’t help but laugh softly as he activated the outer formation, thinking about his upcoming journey to the East Sea in a few days.

He should check his supplies again.

With Master Jiujiu’s help these past few years, he refined many poison pills capable of killing True Immortals. Later, he would need to process these poison pills into powder or liquid form to facilitate their use in combat.

Although there wouldn’t be any use for them this time, it was always better to be prepared.